Pete Seeger, famed folksong crooner and writer, dead at 94

Pete Seeger, famous Folk Singer has died at the age of 94, following six days in the hospital. Seeger was known as much for his social activism as his singing, and even joined the Occupy Wall Street protests in his 90's.
Pete Seeger, whose name became synonymous with American folksong and who believed there was no injustice a song could not challenge and someday overcome, died Monday at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He was 94.

Seeger's grandson Kitama Cahill-Jackson told The Associated Press his grandfather had been hospitalized for six days, but remained healthy until then.

"He was chopping wood 10 days ago," he said.

With his lanky frame, his head thrown back and a banjo strapped across his shoulders, Seeger became the defining image of the American folksinger.

He helped popularize the civil rights anthem "We Shall Overcome," reflecting his deep personal involvement in more than 70 years of activist causes, from unionism to desegregation to pacifism to the Occupy Wall Street rallies of 2011.

His tireless devotion to what he considered the tenets of human justice, which once got him labeled "un-American," eventually earned admiration up to the level of the White House.

When he was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 1994, President Bill Clinton hailed him as "an inconvenient artist who dared to sing things as he saw them."

Seeger and his wife Toshi, who died last July, were known locally for their campaign to clean up the Hudson River, which flowed near the backyard of the Beacon, N.Y., cabin where they lived for almost 70 years.
To promote that campaign, Seeger built the sloop Clearwater and launched the annual Clearwater Festival, which also showcased musicians he felt were underappreciated.

Musically, Seeger was a godfather to almost every subsequent folk musician, preserving and performing an infinite expanse of folksongs from Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land" and "Joe Hill" to children's songs to complex traditional ballads to popular standards like Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene."

While he always distinguished his work from rock 'n' roll, saying "I don't put my songs into any category except hopefully the music of the people," he also became a major influence on the rock world.

Bob Dylan was an early disciple and Bruce Springsteen recorded "Sessions," an album of Seeger songs, in 2006. Seeger reacted to "Sessions" with a note of caution, saying that while he appreciated the thought and the music, he himself might have made it a little "more serious."

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